Time Management Part II: Churning

By Blair Singer of RichDad.com

I have a good friend who was wildly successful in his direct selling business a few years ago. He went through some tough times, and lost a huge part of his business, but in true leadership and entrepreneurial style, he has come battling back. Yet he lamented to me that it was quite the same now. He was frustrated. Why?

He said that nowadays customers and associates seem to come and go. He complained that it was like a massive turnstile of people coming and going but few staying. What he was describing is something I call 'churn.' He said that it now seemed hard to find those with long-term loyalty, staying power and commitment. Sound familiar?

I told him to let go of what he knew from the past. While the number of jobs being lost continues to increase, the overall number of new jobs, particularly in new businesses, continues to increase. The overall affect is greater growth. Yet those holding onto the vision of industrial age longevity, balance and solidness will end up becoming casualties.

Five days from now there will not be one cell in your body that is the same as today. Nature churns.

Are you growing or are you shrinking?

Only your stats will tell the story, but if you are used to operating on "how it feels" your feelings may misrepresent the facts. Many people don't take the time or like to look at the stats and hold their success in their ability to 'sense' what's happening.

No offense to all of you kinesthetic folks out there (and I am one!) but a churning, growing organization doesn't 'feel' like a steady growing organization. The difference between growth and erosion may be a fine line amidst a thunder of activity.

If you thrive on activity, action and chaos for example, you may be riding high, but losing ground and not know it. Keeping the stats and looking at the 'brutal facts' will allow you to manage the churn.

I was boating on a beautiful lake in Canada not too long ago and observed thousands of square miles of forest land that had been scorched by fire. It has destroyed hundreds of homes. Yet, you could already see new growth sprouting up everywhere. In fact, the seedlings of many of those trees can only germinate and grow if exposed to fire! No destruction... no growth! It’s how nature works.

As the age of information and ideas accelerates, we are still sometimes burdened with the thinking of a past when things seemed more ordered, steady and long term.

Some businesses last only months, days and in some cases even hours and then they are gone. Yet the number of them continues to increase!

Are you mirroring the future or the past?

If you are holding on to your time, holding on to longevity... If you are resisting nature's natural tendency to churn and grow, you will ultimately spend your days longing for the way it used to be!

Leaders are those special individuals who learn to navigate and direct the churn. Trying to freeze it, will kill it. Increasing the size of it will make you more money. It's what you have to do anyway. Think about it. There is no such thing as a 100% loyal customer!

The only constant in this whole churning process is the Code of Honor. It's your values, your simple, small set of rules that govern how you deal with the change and turnover. It's what attracts others of like-mind to your team. The more chaos that you are able to manage, the better of a leader you are and the more business you will attract.

Loyalty will happen by itself as a function of the attractiveness and power of your Code of Honor!

Here’s my recipe for time management:

Work on staying present wherever you are. You do nobody any good if your mind is somewhere else.

Establish clear priorities rather than worrying too much about long term strategic planning. Priorities will dictate where you need to be.

Keep your stats diligently. The more often you review them (weekly instead of monthly), the faster you can correct, direct and win.

Learn to stand in the heat and manage chaos. (See chapter 9 of The ABC's of Building a Business Team That Wins.)

Surround yourself with a team that helps you manage the churn, and who thrive on ever-accelerating change.

Eliminate those things, in your business and personal life that are not performing or that have become obsolete. 2005 is no time for longing and clinging to the past.

Enforce a Code of Honor that will attract and retain the right players, maximize your performance and ensure your integrity.

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Have great day!